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I have not been posting as much as I’d like to lately, but I promise I have a good excuse (besides the 3 month old that has been ruling the roost lately!) I’ve been working hard setting up my Etsy shop, Heart of Hazel!

Heart of Hazel is a labor of love, inspired by my sweet Hazel Mae. I’ve been making her lots of hair bows and headbands these past few months and have been having so much fun with it, I decided to turn it into a bona-fide little business. Here’s a sneak peek of some of my creations…

You can browse the full selection on Etsy. Heart of Hazel also has a Facebook page and Instagram feed featuring special discounts and giveaways, if you’re interested. I’d love for you to check it out!

If you’ve been following this blog for a while, you know that I used to post every day. Quite honestly, I miss the routine of writing that often and interacting with all of you sweet readers! But this pregnancy has definitely slowed me down and I know it’s not about to get any easier to post with a new baby in the mix. So, I’d love to invite you all over to Instagram, where I’m able to post much more frequently.

Of course, I’ll continue to keep up with the blog, but if you’re craving a little daily dose of {blending beautiful}, Instagram is a great place to find it. Here are a few recent Insta pics…

An at-home gradient manicure…

DIY upgrade on our bathroom handsoap dispenser…

My ever-growing bump…

Before & After hair and makeup of my last bridal client of 2013!

If you haven’t already, join me on IG for more updates on DIY projects, the pregnancy and new baby, beauty finds, and other fun things! (My user name is blendingbeautiful.) Hope to see you there :)

Ok, my sweets, it’s finally time for the big reveal :) I’m so excited to share photos of our little girl’s nursery with you. We’ve spent the last few months painting, DIYing, and putting together furniture and I think it’s officially ready!

Overall, I had a great time putting this space together and I’m happy with how it turned out! I’m sure it’ll adjust and evolve, but for now it feels good to have this big project checked off the to-do list :)

I thought I’d share a snapshot or two of the DIY manicure I gave myself earlier this week. I’ve been sticking to pretty basic shades lately, but I had fun switching it up with this gold and coral combo.

To get the stripes, I painted my nail coral and let the polish dry overnight. (You don’t have to wait that long, but you’ll want to wait at least an hour or two to make sure you don’t smudge your base color.) Then, I cut tiny strips of washi tape at a diagonal and laid them across the nail. Washi tape is great because it’s not too sticky and peels off the nail really easily. I painted two coats of gold over the entire nail and made sure to carefully remove the tape before the gold was completely dry.

Pretty darn easy!

My coral shade is Sally Hansen’s Coral Reef. The gold is Sally Hansen’s Golden-I. And the top coat is Seche Vite (which is so much better than anything you’ll find at a drugstore… it keeps nails from chipping for days and creates the perfect shiny finish!)

Want another little sneak peek of baby girl’s nursery? Today, I thought I’d share photos of her sweet coral dresser, which was a DIY project inspired by this photo (which I saw ages ago and earmarked for our future nursery instantly!)…

I bought the dresser for $20 on Craigslist because it was the perfect height to double as a changing table. Still, I knew that it would need some major upgrades in order to be nursery-ready. I employed my mom for help and we got to work. Check out the “before” picture, below:

First, I sanded it down so the paint would stick more easily. Then, we used a white semi-gloss paint to cover the body of the dresser. I bought a quart of coral paint at Home Depot to use for the drawers, but when we played with a swatch, it turned out to be much too orange. So we added some red and white paint and created the perfect custom color ourselves!

Like the inspiration photo, we put the darkest shade on the bottom and then kept adding more white as we went up with the drawers.

Once the paint dried (most of it needed two coats) we added the sweet pink glass knobs, which were a clearance find at Pier One— score!

So far, I think this is my favorite piece in the nursery. I love that it’s girly but not too girly and I can’t wait to find the perfect fabric to use for the changing pad so I can really complete the look.